


Regulations

by MagicalDragon



Series: The Ballad of Gay Shepard [1]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alien Gender/Sexuality, Earthborn (Mass Effect), Ficlet, Gen, Mass Effect 1, gay Shepard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27365731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalDragon/pseuds/MagicalDragon
Summary: “...You think I’m interested in Liara because she’s the only one I’m allowed to date?” he asked incredulously.“So youareinterested in her.”He very, very much was not.Shepard couldn't help it. He started laughing.Ashley didn't look impressed."What?""Ashley, I'mgay."
Series: The Ballad of Gay Shepard [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998835
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Regulations

Shepard’s command style had been called into question early in his career. He had a tendency to be more informal with his subordinates than he was strictly supposed to. Some of his commanding officers hadn’t liked it, had kept him back because of it, but once he started under Anderson, it hadn’t been a problem. Anderson was a bit better at hiding it, but he had a similar mentality; everyone under Anderson’s lead was his family. Where Anderson was often a strict father, though, Shepard was an older brother, ready and willing to joke around with his crew. It’d been fine when he just led squads, but now that he was leading the Normandy… something told him he ought to change things up a little bit. Try to be more like Anderson and less like what the streets on Earth had taught him to be. 

That realisation hit him all the harder when he realised he had, quite inadvertently, managed to lead both Gunnery Chief Williams and Dr. T’Soni on by treating them more like friends than subordinates. 

“Surprised to see you here, sir,” Ashley said as he approached, her tone oddly catty. “Thought you’d be chatting up what’s-her-name. T’Soni.”

Shepard blinked. 

"What."

“Scuttlebutt says you’ve got a bit of a thing for her.”

“ _What_.”

“I could understand why,” Ashley continued. “The crew’s off-limits with the regs against fraternization. And at least she looks like a woman.”

For a moment, Shepard just stared at her. 

“...You think I’m interested in Liara because she’s the only one I’m allowed to date?” he asked incredulously. 

“So you _are_ interested in her.”

He very, very much was not. 

Shepard couldn't help it. He started laughing. 

Ashley didn't look impressed.

"What?"

"Ashley, I'm _gay_."

Ashley blinked a few times.

"Oh…"

“Yeah.” Shepard coughed awkwardly. "Man, Alliance regulations are really cramping my style…" 

He’d hoped a bit of joking would ease the tension, but Ashley still seemed to be reeling. He lifted a hand to his right earlobe and rubbed it thoughtfully. 

“I think my earring hole has grown back together again…”

That seemed to break Ashely out of her shock. 

“You used to wear earrings?” she asked, a small smile playing on her lips. 

“Just the one. Never stopped as such, either, I just don't have a lot of shore leave, so it always manages to close up."

Ashley’s smile widened.

“Yeah, I’ve never bothered, myself. Used to serve with a girl who’d sleep with hers in to avoid that happening, though."

Shepard shrugged. 

"That's one way to do it… I just know I'd forget to take mine off in the morning and then Pressley would look at me all disappointed for setting a bad example."

Ashley laughed. 

"Better be on the safe side when it comes to regulations, sir."

Shepard nodded mock seriously. 

“We good then, Ash? Did you think… had I given you the…” 

“We’re good, skipper,” Ashley hurried to say. “I may have misinterpreted a thing or two, but it doesn’t matter. I think things are better like this, anyway.”

Shepard nodded. It was quiet between them for a bit, but it was a comfortable silence. 

Then a thought occurred to Shepard. 

"...Ashley, if rumors like that are going around, do you think Liara… do you think she also believes I’m interested in her?” 

Ashley shrugged. 

"It's a distinct possibility."

Shepard hid his face in his hands.

"God, I have to talk to her too, don't I?"

“Seems like it’d be the smart move.”

Shepard groaned. 

“Do Asari even get what sexual orientations _are_? They’re mono-gendered.”

Ashley shrugged again.

“Does it matter? She’s not actually a woman, so I suppose that’s not why you’re not into her, anyway. Just tell her you don’t like Asari.”

Shepard made a face.

“That seems so rude, to write off an entire species… anyway, I’ll figure something out. Sorry for the misunderstanding.” 

“No, I’m the one who got the wrong end of the stick,” Ashley said. “Don’t worry about it, skipper.”

Shepard nodded.

“I better go… deal with this.”

Ashley laughed.

“Good luck.”

  
  
  


A few minutes later, Shepard was walking through the medbay. He barely even remembered to greet Dr. Chakwas, so preoccupied was he by his thoughts. 

“Commander!” Liara exclaimed at his approach. 

Shepard was no expert in Asari body language, but if she’d been human, he’d say her eyes lit up when she saw him. Not… necessarily the best sign. 

"Hey, Liara,” he said awkwardly. “So... can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Commander!"

Shepard suppressed a sigh. 

_Here we go..._

"So, I've been told you might be interested in me. Romantically, I mean, not just because of the beacon and the Protheans... And I just... wanted to explain that if that's the case, I'm flattered, but not interested."

Asari didn’t blush, but Liara did seem distinctly flustered.

"...this is so embarrassing,” she got out, refusing to meet his eyes. 

Oh god, he really had managed to lead both Liara and Ashley on? _How_?

"It's alright, Liara,” Shepard said, trying his damndest to be the comforting older brother he saw himself as. “We've all been there."

Liara looked up.

" _You've_ been interested in someone who wasn't interested in you?" 

A pair of gentle, brown eyes filled his mind for a moment, but Shepard put the thought aside. Ashley hadn’t been wrong about the regs against fraternization. 

"Liara, are you familiar with the human concept of sexual orientation?"

Liara frowned. 

"Not really, no… As I’ve explained, I don’t know much about humans."

"Well, I'm not sure how it works for other species,” Shepard began, a bit unsure how to approach this. “But humans can be very specific about what gender they're interested in. I'm gay, for example, so I only like men. I have no idea where a mono-gendered species like yours fits into this, but with humans… around half of human men aren’t interested in other men whatsoever." 

Liara was quiet for a while as she thought. 

“I know your species, like many others, require a male and a female to procreate, but I didn’t realise that biological necessity had such an impact on romantic relationships.” 

Shepard scratched his neck a bit. Was he explaining this correctly? He decided against adding in details about gender as identity rather than biological phenomenon, that seemed like it’d just complicate things even further. 

“Anyway, Asari tend to look more like human women than human men, so I’ve never really been interested…” 

Liara nodded, eyes big.

“I suppose that makes sense.” 

Shepard let out a sigh of relief.

“So you see, it’s not about you as a person at all…” 

Liara continued nodding.

“You don’t have to explain, Shepard. I’m embarrassed about my misunderstanding, but I’ll be fine… although, does this mean there’s nothing going on with you and Gunnery Chief Williams, either?” 

Shepard groaned. 

What had he done to provoke this?!

**Author's Note:**

> Shepard is very gay and very confused
> 
> tbh if it were up to me sexuality would look very different in 2183 and if homophobia existed it would be in an entirely different form BUT I'm not willing to pretend the Mass Effect games don't heavily imply it's still a thing in the current sense, particularly not given the heavy heteronormativity of the first two games (at least when playing it with m!shep, at any rate) so this is what we're doing.


End file.
